Kill Zone
by Celena Schezar
Summary: Linda sets up for the perfect shot.


Disclaimer: I do not own anything but the actual fic. Everything is copyrighted and all that jazz to its maker/owner and all that other official stuff.

**Kill Zone**

**By: Celena Schezar**

Linda set the tripod down on the hard, rocky ground and lay down beside it. She arranged herself carefully before opening the case on her left. The pieces came together easy; the puzzle was a familiar one to her, and the pieces fit like a glove in her head before she even glanced at the items she took from the case one at a time. It didn't take her long to put the entire object together and set its barrel gingerly on the tripod.

Linda adjusted the scope on her rifle minutely as she entered her no-zen state. This state was one of utter control and represented the complete power she held over the situation. Wherever her sight fell, wherever her scope could find a target, she was completely in control. The state consisted of her silence and the lack of thought required for her to react. Even if her teammates were with her, in this state Linda would barely acknowledge them with the minutest of nods, and that was only to the leader issuing an order.

She kept perfectly still, only moving ever-so-slightly to rearrange her weapon for the perfect shot or adjust her gear for better comfort which accounted to her shooting capabilities. Small movements that were slow and tedious, so careful that they would never give her position away to even an eagle's eye.

The next five hours were spent in complete silence as she waited patiently.

Point three-two-five seconds after the designated TOA, the close-cropped redhead sighted down her scope and spotted the target. The golden armor of the field commander glittered seductively to the assassin. It would be a crime to ignore the call that the flamboyant armor gave to any enemy in range.

Linda didn't ignore the call.

The pompous Elite's head came into view quickly, easily. Linda rested a moment on the ugly alien's four-point mandibles. They clacked together softly as the Elite gave orders to its underlings. The scope moved up slightly and stopped on the one of the alien's amber eyes. It glinted eerily once in the sunlight then faded back to a dull yellow hue. The sniper moved on.

The sight finally stopped just above the ear canal. She toggled the sight to the alien's crown then back down to the alien's ear. She estimated the length and aimed the rifle in the middle, almost exactly where she had stopped it on her first aim. She glanced at her HUD--the wind velocity and weather conditions blinked back at her. The conditions were perfect.

Linda sighted down the scope again. She took perfect aim on the alien's skull, adjusted it for the wind and bullet trajectory, then gently squeezed the trigger.

The shot didn't ring out--the muzzle had a specially built silencer just for this sort of job--but the 14.5x114mm round entered cleanly right above the Elite's ear canal and burst through the other side with a blue spray of blood and brain matter. Linda watched calmly as the golden armored Elite stood perfectly still for a moment, then, slowly it seemed, fell to the ground on its side.

The sniper watched through her scope patiently as the other Covenant forces went into a sudden panic. As much as Linda would have loved to drop the Grunts and Jackals now running around aimlessly, orders were orders. She was only to shoot the field commander and then discontinue assault on the Covenant forces. Linda's mission was a one-man job, and without the cover of her team command didn't want her to take the risk of being spotted.

Linda waited for the next thirty minutes as she watched through her scope until the Covenant forces finally organized themselves and began to move out. She waited another cautionary thirty minutes for any stranglers or SpecOp counter forces to emerge, then decided the Covenant had simply high-tailed it out of there. Satisfied her mission was complete, Linda stood up and stretched out her numb limbs.

The mission was complete and the sniper was in the clear. Linda took her time in disassembling her SRS99C-S2 AM sniper rifle with modified barrel and silencer. She cleaned the weapon carefully, placed it gently back into its case, then closed the lid and snapped it shut. She disengaged the tripod, stuffed it into a pack with the case, shouldered the pack, and stood back up again.

She surveyed the target area. It was quiet now, and the only remainder of the incident was a splotch of violet-blue that indicated the dead target's former position. Allowing herself a small smile, Linda hoofed it out of the kill zone.


End file.
